What is a faithless elector?

When voters cast ballots for a presidential candidate, they are technically choosing a slate of electors - people who will cast the official Electoral College votes in December. These electors are chosen by state parties and are pledged to vote for their party's candidate.

A faithless elector is one who breaks that pledge, voting for a different candidate or abstaining. Historically this was rare but legal. In 2016, seven electors cast faithless votes, the most in any modern election, though the outcome was not affected.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in Chiafalo v. Washington that states have the constitutional authority to enforce elector pledges - including by replacing defecting electors or imposing fines. Since that ruling, the faithless elector problem has become far more constrained in states with such laws.

For 2028, the legal landscape is clearer than it was before 2020: in states with elector-pledge laws, a faithless vote can be voided and the elector replaced. The risk of faithless electors changing an election outcome is low, particularly with the post-Chiafalo enforcement framework.